In 1790, when the seat of South Carolina’s government was moved from the lowcountry port of Charleston to the backwoods of the state’s midlands, the city of Columbia, on the banks of the Congaree River, was born. Its graceful wide thoroughfares and striking edifices defined the new community until one night in 1865, when Sherman’s Union troops set the town ablaze and destroyed a 36-block area. Columbia rose from the ashes and today stands proudly as the center of state government and a diverse and much-loved city of culture, arts, education, and commerce.